Help needed chosing a graphics card

[rajaswin]

Hello members,

I would like to buy a video card primarily to game and occassionally watch movies.

I was thinking 660 or 660 ti. Is "ti" better for gaming? Also is 660 sufficient or should I consider 670?

Also this will be part of a hackintosh build so compatibility is kinda important

I have a 3770k with 16Gigs of RAM and a 27inch Dell monitor.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Thank you all for your time.
RAS
\\|/

[Fallengod]

Its kind of subjective. It always depends on what resolutions and detail settings you want to play at. Performance completely depends on those two things. For me, I play at 1280x760ish and usually medium or low detail settings. I game fine on my $70AR GTX 650.

And of course the Ti's are better for gaming. I suggest doing some research. The higher model number you go, the more it costs and the better it performs heh. Thats just how it works.

[crisium]

If that's a 2560x1440 monitor, then you might want to consider the 670 over the 660 series. The 670 has more memory bandwidth that you will drastically need at 2560.

[Eureka]

What monitor is it? 27" 1440p or 1080p? What games? At 1080p, you won't need more than the GTX 660.. and quite honestly unless you can get it for less than $20 more, the 660 Ti doesn't offer much more performance. The next step up is a GTX 670.

Originally Posted by Fallengod

And of course the Ti's are better for gaming. I suggest doing some research. The higher model number you go, the more it costs and the better it performs heh. Thats just how it works.

This is not always true. The 6870s were slower than the 5870s. The 660 Ti is only a smudge faster than the 660, and nearly 25% more expensive.

[FalseChristian]

The GTX 660 is about 70% faster than a GTX 460 1GB so it is a viable upgrade. I'm currently saving up for 2 GTX 670 2GB which are twice as fast as my GTX 460 1GB.

[rajaswin]

Thank you all for the replies. I am new to this and I had not subscribed and hence did not get the updates

I have a Dell U2713HM. Max Resolutions is 2560 x 1440 @ 60Hz. Not sure whether it is 1080p. It does not say in the manual.

I play games such as Farcry3, assasins creed, Arkham City etc.

I would like to use the full 2560x 1440 if possible of course . Right now I have an old Samsung 24 in monitor with a max of 1600 resolution. I bought the Dell 2713 after good reviews from Anandtech.

I was thinking 660 or 660Ti primarily because I wanted to say under 300 USD.

Thank again

[BrightCandle]

The 660ti can do that resolution but only with some details turn down.Its just that classic trade off where if you spend less you wont be able to run games in their full maxed graphics settings because you just don't have the hardware to do it. 2560x1440 is punishing for a modern card, I personally would only really be happy with 2x670 at that resolution as I want both maxed out graphics and 60 fps reliably. But I am a rare in that regard, most people are happy down to 30fps and on medium details.

[crisium]

Get the 660Ti if you can't afford the 670. The extra shaders and ROPs will help the Ti version compared to the 660, but they share the same relatively modest memory bandwidth so expect lowered detail at 2560x1440. Of course the alternative is to run the game at higher detail and letterbox it at 1920x1080, which uses about 20 inches of your screen.

The 670 might be able to give you comfortable minimal FPS at 2560x1440 in FC3 on Very High (definitely not Ultra). The 660Ti probably not unless you don't mind hovering around the 30fps mark. When you're talking about the difference between frames in the mid-30s and low-40s, there's a big difference in smoothness so you may want to reconsider the 670. Plus the extra memory bandwidth means the percentage gap between the two cards only increases as time goes on, since on average memory usage climbs year-to-year.

http://static.techspot.com/articles-...ch/2560_02.png

[philipma1957]

Originally Posted by rajaswin

Thank you all for the replies. I am new to this and I had not subscribed and hence did not get the updates

I have a Dell U2713HM. Max Resolutions is 2560 x 1440 @ 60Hz. Not sure whether it is 1080p. It does not say in the manual.

I play games such as Farcry3, assasins creed, Arkham City etc.

I would like to use the full 2560x 1440 if possible of course . Right now I have an old Samsung 24 in monitor with a max of 1600 resolution. I bought the Dell 2713 after good reviews from Anandtech.

I was thinking 660 or 660Ti primarily because I wanted to say under 300 USD.

Thank again

1440p and that means get a better gpu like the 670 with the extra memory. what country are you in?

[rajaswin]

Originally Posted by philipma1957

1440p and that means get a better gpu like the 670 with the extra memory. what country are you in?

Thanks for replying. Am in the USA

[rajaswin]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will shop around for a 670. Looks like that will suit my needs.

Thanks once again for clarifying things

[rajaswin]

Originally Posted by Eureka

What monitor is it? 27" 1440p or 1080p? What games? At 1080p, you won't need more than the GTX 660.. and quite honestly unless you can get it for less than $20 more, the 660 Ti doesn't offer much more performance. The next step up is a GTX 670.



This is not always true. The 6870s were slower than the 5870s. The 660 Ti is only a smudge faster than the 660, and nearly 25% more expensive.

Thank you Eureka. I like the way you think. Makes sense.

[raghu78]

if the HD 7950 supports hackintosh go for it. otherwise get a GTX 670. at 1440p the GTX 660 Ti is handicapped by the 192 bit memory bus

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/H..._Boost/28.html

2560 x 1600

GTX 660 Ti - 82
GTX 670 - 96
HD 7950 ICEQ x2 boost - 100
GTX 680 - 105
HD 7970 Ghz - 115

the HD 7950 boost at 1100 mhz matches HD 7970 Ghz. its fairly easy to achieve 1100 - 1150 mhz on the HD 7950 boost.

sapphire hd 7950 boost - 310 with shipping (290 after rebate)
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=AT-7950BST

msi gtx 670 pe - 395 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127685

[Tweak155]

I game fine with my 560ti 448 at 2560x1440. It all depends what games you play, but I max all mine out. What is your current card? I've seen a 670 for $280 just a week or 2 ago, if you're patient you can hit your budget soon.

[tviceman]

Definitely get the gtx660ti over the 660, and it would be worth spending the extra money to get the gtx670 over the gtx660ti with your monitor's native resolution.

[rajaswin]

Thank you all again for your suggestions. It has definitely helped clarify things for me.

Even amongst the 670 there are so many different ones. The price seems to vary based on the core clock. How important is it to get the higher core for gaming? Also some had 4Gigs of RAM. I am assuming both are important.

My questions is will another 40Mhz do anything significant? Also is 4Gigs vs 2 gigs going to have a huge improvement in performance? Thanks

[rajaswin]

I have an oler GeForce 8800GTX and a samsung 23in monitor.

[crisium]

Don't worry about the 4GB vs 2GB. Unless you have actual plans to go SLI in the future, a single 670 - even at 2560x1440 - probably cannot really use more than 2GB of RAM and still give you acceptable frame rates.

If you plan to overclock, the default core clock doesn't really matter too much. What matters is getting a good cooler (i.e. non-reference). But if you are gonna stay stock, then the factory OC will help. I assume you are looking at this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127675

It has a core clock and boost clock advantage of 40/65MHz, respectively. That's fine if you don't want to overclock on your own and save a few bucks, but you are still looking at a reference cooler. That means it'll be loud.

[rajaswin]

Crisium, Funny but that was the exact card that I was eyeing.

Just to clarify that I am reading right what you said. I need a better cooler to keep things quiet? Also if I decide to go SLI in future 4Gb will help?

Thanks for helping.

[Jaydip]

If you plan to game on eyefinity resolutions in the future then go for the 4Gb cards otherwise it would be a waste.

[rajaswin]

Thank you Jaydip. Do I need a thirdparty cooler to keep things quiet? I would like things to be quiet.

[Jaydip]

Originally Posted by rajaswin

Thank you Jaydip. Do I need a thirdparty cooler to keep things quiet? I would like things to be quiet.

If you are going for a single card then you probably won't need it.If you want ultra quiet gaming experience go for the Asus DC II coolers, they are efficient and pretty damn silent.

[rajaswin]

Thank you Jaydip

[willomz]

Don't spend too much, I wouldn't go any higher than this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121637

This model is also very quiet and comes with free shipping and a factory overclock:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125423

It's quite easy to apply your own overclock and custom fan settings too.

[MrK6]

$400 for a GTX 670 is a complete rip off. This is probably the cheapest GTX 670 @ $300, but you don't get the games and it's a reference cooler: http://us.ncix.com/products/?usaffil...c&promoid=1366
This has both and is at least somewhat cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125438

In either case, the price/performance ratio stinks. For reference, a GTX 660 Ti, which is only ~10% slower, can be had for <$250 and comes with a game: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814162121

Of course, compared to the 7950, a GTX 670 at any of these prices is laughable.